BATON ROUGE, La.—So there they were in a name-the-score game, the lower bowl at massive Tiger Stadium thinning out early in the third quarter from sheer boredom.

There will be more games like this, more Saturdays when a team full of future Sunday stars makes it look ridiculously easy. It was then that No. 3 LSU made its only real miscalculation in a 41-3 laugher over Washington.

The Tigers threw a halfback pass.

I’m going to make this very easy for the brilliant LSU staff to understand (and I say “brilliant” with sincere respect): You have an NFL quarterback now.

For crying out loud, use him.

“Sometimes I’d like to be the guy playing at Texas Tech and throwing it 100 times a game,” says LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger. “But how can you argue with 41-3?”

Look, maybe LSU coach Les Miles is gun-shy from four years of Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee. Or maybe he’s married to the power run game that has meant so much to this program over the last three years.

But here’s the reality of the situation: LSU has a Matthew Stafford-type quarterback right now. A big, strong quarterback who can make all the throws; a quarterback programs dream about.

A meal ticket.

Yet there was Mettenberger, for a majority of this Saturday night slaughter, handing off and doing more for the management of post-game traffic patterns than for developing the Tigers’ offense. He threw the ball all of 18 times and completed 12—with five drops. That’s right, five drops.

One of those drops was a touchdown pass to Russell Shepard. Another stalled a drive and led to a field goal. He threw the ball four times in the second half.

And that’s the problem. Mettenberger, in his second career start, isn’t helping LSU become all it can be by handing off. We all know where this season begins and ends for LSU: Nov. 3 in this very stadium against defending national champion Alabama.

Everything LSU does from here until then should be done with the pointed intention of becoming more multiple in the face of the Alabama defense. That, or crossing the 50 earlier than midway through the fourth quarter.

If that means throwing more on first down; if that means throwing late in a game to get Mettenberger more reps; if that means veering from your run-first, run-second philosophy, do it. This may be hard to handle for hardcore LSU fans, but the day Mettenberger becomes option No. 1 in the LSU offense, is the day LSU becomes the best team in college football.

Despite the drops, LSU has receivers who can win individual battles against Alabama. Despite play calling that’s as imaginative as oatmeal, LSU has balance on offense to keep the Tide defense guessing all game.

Once the Tigers lean more on Mettenberger; once teams must respect LSU’s ability to stretch the field with the passing game, the offense becomes multiple and no one—not even the Alabama defense—can do anything about it.

Instead, we had this: Early in the fourth quarter, with LSU leading 34-3, a 13-play drive chewed up 6:44 and ended with another touchdown run. Twelve of the plays were runs.

If I may: Throw the damn ball.

For two years this program has dominated every aspect of nearly every game, with the lone exception of the most important position on the field. It’s not a stretch to say that the quarterback spot—specifically Jefferson and Lee—prevented LSU from winning national championships in 2010 and 2011.

LSU was that good—and the quarterbacks were that bad.

Now we have Metteneberger, a prototype NFL thrower and a guy who probably, in hindsight, should have been playing last year. It’s hard to second-guess Miles’ decision to play his maddeningly inconsistent duo last year; they won the first 13 games of the season.

But it’s Mettenberger’s team now; he was the guy throwing darts early in this game that receivers couldn’t handle. He’s the guy who, if he hadn’t run into trouble off the field, would be starting at Georgia this weekend.

Earlier this summer at SEC Media Days, Georgia coach Mark Richt was asked where Mettenberger would be if he were still at Georgia—considering the Dawgs had preseason All-SEC quarterback Aaron Murray. Without hesitating, Richt said, “he’d probably be starting.”

He then corrected himself—at least to make Murray feel better—and said, “or he’d be competing with Aaron Murray.”

And right now, Mettenberger is handing off to Alfred Blue and Kenny Hilliard and Spencer Ware and Michael Ford or any other tailback LSU deems worthy. He’s stuck in an offense where there’s little incentive to change because, well, look at the scoreboard.

Instead of looking at the now, LSU better look at the future. November 3rd, to be exact.